Melissa is a highly experienced pool and open water swimmer from Australia. After a competitive and successful pool swimming career she went on to enjoy success at National level in surf-lifesaving and then found her niche in open water swimming. She went on to complete numerous coastal and bay swims around Australia including the notorious shark-infested Rottnest Channel between Perth, Western Australia, and Rottnest Island. Over the past few years she has completed the Hellespont swim from Europe to Asia winning the female race and has also captained the first Red Top English Channel relay last summer, completing in 10hrs 58mins.